Gymdoll Fitness Apparel Giveaway!

I received a tank top free of charge from Gymdoll. All opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

I’ve mentioned Gymdoll previously, in my HealthyChic review. But that’s because I happened to choose this cute tank when I was picking out something to purchase during my try-out of the website.

Moar selfies plz.

This time around Gymdoll has contacted me separately to host a giveaway, and try out another tank. I was hooked by Chris’s rhyming subject line in his email to me…”Cait Plus Ate + Gymdoll = GREAT”. How could I say no to that?! He offered me the Skulls & Barbell Active Tank, perfectly suited for a lady like me who is passionate about her gym‘s Group Power class. (Even though the first time I wore it, I was taking Group Kick…oh well.)

Continue reading →

Skinny Doesn’t Have To Mean Sick

I alluded to this post in this week’s Marvelous In My Monday. Now, I don’t like the word “skinny” because I think it’s too often used as a stupid label. So I hope this post’s title doesn’t turn anyone off. But it was the first one that came to mind and I couldn’t think of a better alternative. And despite my aversion for the word “skinny”, I have to be honest…it’s what I want to be. The desire to be skinny, stay skinny, get skinny, is in my head for a good chunk of each day. A much larger chunk than I’d like. But since I’m still in recovery, I guess that’s what I have to deal with. I just hope there’s an end point to that.

Source

I had a really good conversation with my therapist on Friday, during which she brought up an excellent point. I was telling her about last Wednesday night and how I got really full at dinner and almost had to make sure that I felt guilty about it afterwards. Why? So that I wouldn’t “be bad” again. I went through the exact same thing after my trip to Boston (and the restaurant hopping it included) over the weekend. There were actually a few moments on Sunday when I felt like I could easily push the ED thoughts aside and just move on with my day, but as soon as that notion entered my mind I felt a panic. How could I allow myself to feel the self love that I’d need to feel to push the thoughts aside and recognize that I deserve to enjoy life? In my mind that would only mean one thing…weight gain.

Continue reading →

MIMM: Home and Away

The winner of the Ellovi Body Butter giveaway is Mahdi! Congratulations and look for an email from me about getting you your free jar of raw six-ingredient body butter. Remember if you didn’t win you can get 15% off (click here to purchase a jar) by entering offer code “caitplusate”.

I went into the weekend wary of how I would handle my plans to visit my good friend/former neighbor Molly in Boston on Saturday night. I still wasn’t feeling good about myself after Wednesday night’s dinner out and was doing a lot of future-tripping over the guilt I would surely feel after a day and night of restaurant hopping in Beantown. For that reason I made sure to keep Friday night low-key and stayed in my hometown. Of course everything turned out marvelous in the end, as it often does. I’ve got another weekend of excellent memories and moments I’d re-live again in an instant, even if they also came with some not-so-kind thoughts toward myself.

Share your marvelous via Katie’s link-up!

Marvelous are…my tolerant, flexible parents. I was a bit of a mess when I got home Friday night. I’d been sitting in traffic, stewing with too much time to think about our evening dinner plans. We would have to fight that same traffic again to get over to our planned destination (Rizzuto’s in West Hartford) and it didn’t seem worth it. But if we didn’t go there, where would we go? I’d already mentally prepared myself for one restaurant and I know it sounds silly, but I do not handle plan changes well when it comes to food. Hello, control freak. My parents calmed me down when I got home and let me choose a new restaurant destination that I was comfortable with and that also wouldn’t take us on a highway. Speaking of which…

Continue reading →

Five Things Friday: Linking Up!

Check out yesterday’s post to see a review, discount code, and GIVEAWAY for Ellovi Butter, a raw six-ingredient body butter created by my friend from high school!

I’ve done Five Things Friday (or some variation) posts in the past but this is the first one I’ve done since Clare started her link-up! And I have several different things to say today so it’s very appropriate timing. I love these kinds of posts because I don’t have to focus on one topic. I can just bop around and share different news/insights/etc. And what do you know…Clare featured one of my posts in her Five Things Friday today! Thank you Clare!

five-things-friday1

1. I got really full on Wednesday night. I felt anxious all day at work because not only did I do a morning (which means shorter than usual) workout, but I had dinner plans with Kat to eat in the Millwright’s Tavern. The staff at Millwright’s have a tendency to spoil me 😉 and I found myself future-tripping all day about whether or not that would happen. Well it did – Chef Tyler sent out some amazing appetizers after we’d ordered our (first) drinks and entrees.

Kale with 6-minute egg, tomatillos, blue cheese, bacon, &sweet onion vinaigrette.

Continue reading →

Ellovi Body Butter – Giveaway!

I received a complimentary jar of body butter for review purposes. All opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

I’m back again this week with another preservative-free beauty product review and giveaway! But this one is all the more special to me because though the product is not made locally, it is made by a local. Huh? The company – Ellovi – was co-founded by former Glastonbury resident and fellow GHS graduate Kelly Winterhalter!

Yours truly topping the pyramid, and Kelly on the left with her tongue sticking out, at her high school grad party!

Yours truly topping the pyramid, and Kelly on the left with her tongue sticking out, at her high school grad party!

Nowadays, looking tres glam! Source

Nowadays, looking tres glam! Source

Continue reading →

WIAW: I Cooked!

Whenever I do a What I Ate Wednesday post (thanks Jenn!) that features at-home meals, it shows off my mom’s amazing healthy dishes. Truth (though I’ve never been secretive about this): pretty much every one of my recipes was created by her. Well today I’ve got something new cooking…two dishes THAT I MADE. They may not be recipes I created (I’ll be sharing one of those later!) but they are recipes I took from my Recipes I’d Actually Make Pinterest board. And now I’m able to take a cue from Sam and move those two recipes to a board titled I MADE THIS. Yes in all caps, because I”m that excited about it.

The reason I don’t have much experience with cooking is because I live at home to save money (I always feel the need to throw the reasoning in there…I’m not a 30 year old living it up in my parent’s basement – although my room IS in the basement). My mom is an awesome cook and she always makes super-healthy dinners for me. Believe me it’s come in handy especially given the fact that I do the gym after work, and when I get home I am just hungry and ready to chow down after my shower. But I won’t be living at home forever and I definitely have been fearing getting too content with my mom’s cooking and too dependent upon restaurants, take-out, and the Whole Foods salad bar. My parents have been spending more time than ever in our FL condo so I decided it was the perfect time to practice my cooking!

Continue reading →

Pond House Grille Side Dish Cooking Class

I received complimentary admission to this event in exchange for a blog post about my experience. All opinions are my own.

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to attend my second cooking class (read about my first one here) at Pond House Grille in Glastonbury, CT. The restaurant has been doing one class per month, and with Thanksgiving coming up this one was appropriately themed “Spice Up Your Side Dishes”.

11-15-13-pondhouse5

This month’s class had enough participants to be held in a bigger room in the restaurant’s adjacent banquet facility.

All classes are taught by Executive Chef Jordan Stein but I wouldn’t exactly call it teaching…hosting is a more accurate word. Jordan is so great with his guests! I felt like I was in his home and he was letting us all help him make Thanksgiving dinner. He made sure every “student” got some hands-on cooking time in. He would demo each step and afterwards pass it off to a volunteer – or someone he chose. Some guests were hesitant to volunteer and Jordan did a wonderful job of encouraging them to do so.

Continue reading →

MIMM: Well That Worked Out!

The winners of the Bristol Bliss giveaway are Steph, Heather, and SmileyJoyLove! Congratulations and I will be contacting you for your shipping info so that you can receive your scrub. Remember to check out the Bristol Bliss Etsy shop for natural beauty goodies for yourself…or a custom gift basket for a holiday gift!

bbwinner3 bbwinners12

This weekend taught me a few lessons and gave me some great ammo for the next time I’m feeling down. I always need these kinds of weekends to prove to myself that the fun in my life is not a “bad habit”…it’s marvelous!

Join Katie‘s marvelous weekly link-up!

Continue reading →

Positive Thoughts: Cold Weather

Remember to enter my giveaway for locally made natural & organic beauty products by Bristol Bliss!

Most people who know me at all (not even well) know I hate cold weather. I don’t make any secret of it. When I moved here (from Florida) in 7th grade, I was so excited to experience fall and winter. And I still really enjoy fall. But as the years have passed I’ve come to the point where I can’t stand cold, I can’t stand snow and how it’s always ruining my plans (yes I’m a control freak), and I can’t stand the dark days of winter.

384049_1563671006739_1547786519_n

Linz wrote a post yesterday called “What I Love About Cold Weather” and as soon as I read the title, my eyes rolled. I try to ignore those happy go lucky winter lovers (just being honest) because sometimes I just want to bitch and moan about the cold. Don’t get me started on the excited Facebook updates that seem to flood my feed when we get our first real snow. But then I read these words in her post: “And truthfully, I don’t love cold weather at all.  But instead of focusing on the negative, I’m going to make a list of what I love about cold weather!”

Continue reading →

Bristol Bliss Natural Products Giveaway!

I received complimentary Bristol Bliss products for review purposes. All opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

When I visited Brilliant Options Wellness for my first massage, I noticed some cute and great-smelling soy candles in the studio. BOW owner Kellie informed me that they were a local product (hooray!) by Bristol Bliss. I contacted owner Mary Brown to find out more about her natural/organic candles and other beauty products. She was kind enough to offer me some samples for a review and giveaway blog post!

I received bath salts, a candle, lip balm, and body scrub.

Unfortunately I never take baths so I never got a chance to use the All-Natural Detoxifying Ginger Bath Salts. The ingredients list is short and sweet: epsom salt, sea salt, ground ginger, baking soda, essential oil. I am not a big user of natural beauty products (or beauty products in general…I just have a few basics) so these pronounceable ingredients are new to me – that’s a good thing!

Continue reading →

Meet Caitlin

I’m a 28 year old full-time working girl living in Boston (previously lived in Connecticut). I’m passionate about food/drink, restaurants, self-love, fitness, and the ever-present search for balance. I write about that journey on this blog – I hope you enjoy!

Social

Design Credit

My header was originally designed by Mai Le and later tweaked by Chris Roggi to match this theme, which he helped me customize. He also moved me over to self-hosting! Both can be contacted through their sites for design & development work!

Disclaimer

I am not an RD and do not have any official training, certifications, or degrees in nutrition or fitness. This blog is a way to write about my life. Any views I express are mine alone, based on what works for me, and should never be taken as medical advice. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan. In addition, this blog and its content are in no way affiliated with Kate Gosselin, “Kate Plus 8”, TLC, or any related affiliates.

Privacy Policy

I allow third party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit this blog. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g. click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice visit the NAI at http://www.networkadvertising.org. To opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices.